Cheshire
by Faux Promises
Summary: She recognized that smile from somewhere, but she just couldn't quite make the connection. Oneshot, Joshyme if you squint.


**A/N:** Well, I had this idea batting around in my head so here's a little drabbley bit of nonsense. I know, I'm crazy like a fox, but it's okay, aren't we all? I kinda dedicate this to Riku-Aura777 'cause she guilted me into playing this game, more or less~! Love you Alex! *wink*

Disclaimer: Um. No ownership.

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Loud verbal altercations had, in the Bito residence, become an increasingly frequent event over the past few months. These arguments typically started over trivial matters—who had tracked all this mud in the house?—but always worked their way up in volume and subject matter. Before long, anyone passing by the small home would hurry their step upon hearing the awful din.

This evening was no different, really, and as the battle raged on outside of her bedroom door, Rhyme was aware quite acutely of the familiar pain growing inside her stomach. At seven o'clock, many of Shibuya's families were sitting down to eat, or taking a stroll together in the fading light of dusk. She envied the thought; her night consisted of quickly managing a few bites of dinner, then slipping to the sanctity of her room before her parents and Beat ended up in one of their yelling matches.

There had been a time when she would try to intervene, so desperate to relieve her brother of some of the cold disapproval her mother and father were always pouring upon him. Unfortunately, the teenage girl found she could do very little, and more often than not she only found herself being used as ammo. A measuring stick by which her parents seemed to constantly assess the value of her older sibling.

Laying back on her bed, Rhyme did her best to ignore the sound. She was doing what she typically did at such a time, that being engage herself in a book and hope it might bring her far away from where she was. The pages of her favorite story felt warm and comforting in her hands, a peculiar tale of a young girl who fell into a rabbit hole and found herself in a bizarre world. No matter how many times she read it, she always managed to crack a smile at the obscurity of it all.

The sudden slamming of the front door caused the framework of the house to quiver briefly, followed by a merciful silence. Across the room, the vibration shook the dresser, and the old cat sleeping atop it raised its head in irritation for a short moment before resuming its nap. If only she could accomplish such indifference, Rhyme mused sadly.

She absolutely hated it when these quarrels ended in Beat taking off. Every time it happened, she felt herself dreading that one day he would not be returning. She laid the book down beside her on the bed, heaving a deep sigh that came out sounding shaky.

"He'll be back, dear. Or rather, at least he will this time."

The teenage girl glanced over at the open window, no longer very surprised by a visit from the most eccentric member of her group of friends. On the windowsill, the elusive Composer lounged with that ever-present smirk glued on his visage.

Rhyme only returned a half-hearted smile, flopping onto her back. The cracks in the ceiling were suddenly interesting. "Why do you say that?" she asked quietly, barely above audibility.

Throwing a look out to the open street, Joshua blessed her with one of his snide giggles before looking back at the listless girl. "Didn't take his skateboard."

She laughed at this, closing her eyes for a moment. Nope, Beat wouldn't be going on the lam without that. Rolling onto her side, Rhyme picked her book up again, flipping through the pages to look at the pictures. She'd always loved the pictures, even when there wasn't any color.

"Starting high school soon then, I imagine?" Rhyme shot him a confused look over the top of the book, and he indicated with a nod the new uniform hanging from a hook on the wall.

She smiled wryly, thinking of her friends' excitement that she would be coming to the same school as them. "Yeah. Shiki's excited out of her mind." A small, warm laugh escaped her at the thought of the enthusiastic girl. "She keeps telling me we have to do something new with my hair, something fitting for 'a young lady.'" She imitated Shiki's cheerful voice for emphasis.

The Composer merely held a half-smile at her delighted gushing, cryptic as ever. Although Rhyme felt that she had a fairly good understanding of people and their emotions, she fostered no illusions of knowing what made this unusual boy tick. Most of the time he was cold and barely there, but since she had gotten to know him a bit better, he seemed to make an almost benign effort to treat her civilly.

It wasn't exactly that she didn't think he was capable of kindness. On the contrary, she figured that this might be the closest thing to affection that someone so aloof and detached could even show.

Watching her quietly, Joshua laughed softly at her thoughtful expression as her eyes glanced over the pages. "Good book, Raimu?"

She smiled without looking up, tilting the book to show the title. "Nothing different than usual."

"Oh, I'm familiar with that one, hun. But you'd struck me as much more…" Rhyme lifted her eyes from the book at his pause. "Serious, I suppose."

A hint of a blush spread across her face. "Guilty pleasure?"

His violet eyes narrowed slightly, his characteristic smirk growing just a touch sinister for a moment. "I believe I know the feeling."

Rhyme squinted at the page she was reading, turning her eyes to her otherworldly friend before returning her gaze to the book. The picture on the page showed a striped cat with a teasing smile on its face, looking down at the troubled girl below him. She was positive she recognized that smile from somewhere, but the thought was a strange one, and she dismissed it quickly.

At her smile, the Composer stretched luxuriously and gave her mind a quick scan. Definitely in a better mood. That was his good deed for the day, and he doubted he could stomach any more of them for now.

When she looked over at the window again, Rhyme wasn't entirely surprised to see he was gone. She only managed to hear him giggle softly at the peculiar thought she had just been entertaining.

_Sleep well, Alice…_

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**A/N: **Ah. Much better. Anyway, you can review or not, just keep the fruit throwing to a minimum, this is my first escapade outside my fandom of origin~

Much love,  
-FP


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